With the war over, trade became frequent.
Everyone had seized a great deal of Supplies and prisoners, most of which they couldn’t use themselves. They all needed to trade with one another to meet their respective needs.
Although you couldn’t sell for high prices at a time like this, you could also buy all sorts of Supplies at relatively low prices.
The Zhao Family’s internal trading model was to turn everything over to the family first, then take the corresponding Supplies or prisoners based on individual needs.
You’d be credited for any surplus and charged for any deficit.
This had its pros and cons.
The pro was that you could offload all your Supplies at once without having them pile up on your hands.
The con, however, was that the prices would be somewhat lower.
But most Lords were in favor of it.
After all, useless Supplies piling up were just junk.
Exchanging them for useful Supplies as quickly as possible was the only sensible path.
Zhao Chi first delivered the 200 prisoners Su Qin wanted, earning 200 Gold Coins.
He had originally planned to leave immediately, but Su Qin enthusiastically insisted he stay for lunch.
Zhao Chi still refused.
"Are you really that busy?" Su Qin sounded a little disappointed. "Well, at least drink this honey tea. It’s very good."
Zhao Chi stared at the teacup and hesitated for a moment.
He wouldn’t eat or drink anything from outside if he could help it, especially not liquids.
But in the end, he took the cup and drained it in one go.
The honey tea was warm.
A sweet and fragrant fruit tea. It really did taste good.
"It’s quite good. Well, I’m heading off now. See you next time."
"Alright. I’ll make it for you again next time you visit. Goodbye."
After returning, Zhao Chi contacted Zhao Cang and had all the Supplies transported over.
Just like last time, Zhao Cang was so busy he was going insane.
He wore a numb expression.
Zhao Chi suddenly wondered, ’Could it be that the reason I thought he was cold before was actually because of this?’
’He’s just too busy to manage his facial expressions.’
’So he looks at everyone with the same indifferent face.’
Zhao Cang looked wearily at Zhao Chi.
But when he saw the list, his expression finally changed.
"This is all your loot?"
Zhao Chi’s loot was clearly more plentiful than that of other Lords of the same Level—much more.
"Yeah. Third Brother, take a look and see how much it’s worth."
"How could you possibly have seized this much? Did you fight several Lords?"
Zhao Cang wasn’t as tactful as Su Qin.
Perhaps he just didn’t see the need to be.
Zhao Chi said, "You could say that. Send me a list, too. I want to see about buying some things."
Zhao Cang sent over the list. "The list is a mess right now; I haven’t had time to organize it. Just make do. The more you trade for and take away, the easier my job will be."
Zhao Chi browsed it carefully.
He found that, just like before, the vast majority of items were Equipment with low Durability.
This included a good amount of Refined Iron Equipment and Steel Equipment.
Although they were cheap, it was pointless to buy them if their Durability was low.
There were also large quantities of basic resources for sale, and quite a few Rare Materials as well.
Now was the perfect time to buy cheap, so Zhao Chi selected a large amount of Rare Materials.
Even with the current high tax, the price was only about the same as on the Exchange.
Zhao Chi also picked out 30 Speed Building Talismans and 100 Steel Ingots, and decided against anything else for the time being.
"Third Brother, just these."
Zhao Cang sighed. "Alright. But the fighting just ended, so everyone has a lot of Supplies to sell. On top of that, the tax is high, so the price for the loot you’ve turned in will be much lower than usual."
Zhao Chi nodded. "I understand. Just tell me the total."
"Hmm... You want 30 Speed Building Talismans, 100 Steel Ingots, and these 1500 units of Rare Materials... I can only give you another 860 Gold Coins after that."
It was indeed a bit on the low side.
It was over 100 Gold Coins less than Zhao Chi’s own estimate.
"That’s fine. That’ll be all, then. Thanks, Third Brother."
"Don’t thank me. Just hurry up and leave. Don’t linger."
"Haha, I wouldn’t stay even if you asked. I’m very busy myself."
"You, busy? You’ve only got one village. How busy can you possibly be? Honestly..."
"Bye, Third Brother."
Zhao Chi teleported directly back to Penglai Village.
Penglai Village was much livelier than before, filled with the sounds of women’s voices.
The Female Soldiers were all soaking in the Carefree Spring, washing the grime from their bodies.
Having just come from continuous battles, they were covered in sweat, blood, and a fair amount of mud.
However, none of them were actually washing themselves.
Instead, they were all just lying back in the hot spring.
One by one, their cheeks were flushed, their mouths were slightly agape, and their breathing was short and rapid.
All sorts of sighs and moans sounded out continuously.
The whimpering sounds were delicate, soft, and seductive.
It was just like Qi Yue in bed.
Zhao Chi almost thought they had all been hit by a Charm Skill.
But he quickly understood.
This was no longer the old Carefree Spring, but one with its Comfort Level maxed out.
Of course, the moment these Female Soldiers got in, they were so overcome with comfort that they forgot everything, even to wash the filth from their bodies.
’Looking at them, they won’t be getting out anytime soon.’
’But it’s fine. The expanded Carefree Spring will be placed on the south side of Penglai Village anyway, so they aren’t in the way here.’
Right now, it was only these Female Soldiers.
Later, once the others finished their work, they would also come for a soak.
With the Carefree Spring being so comfortable now, no one would want to leave once they got in. It would probably get completely packed.
Zhao Chi went to the south side and once again activated the Rejuvenation Spring Expansion Book.
[The current Building is quite large and requires the Consumption of 38 Speed Building Talismans. Confirm?]
’Confirm!’
Instantly, 38 streaks of white light shot into the sky.
The light converged.
[Please select the target materials]
[1. Stone x400]
[2. Moonstone x400]
’Huh? Only 400 units are needed?’
’That’s the perfect amount!’
Zhao Chi had been worried he wouldn’t have enough Moonstone for this expansion.
After all, he was expanding it to create a full six large hot springs and four medium-sized ones with different temperatures.
He hadn’t expected the amount of materials to be just right.
This was just too lucky.
However, Zhao Chi could roughly guess the reason why.
Although he was now building ten hot springs, they were, in fact, still a single, integrated hot spring complex.